South korean truck drivers yesterday ended a three-week-long strike that crippled operations at major seaports.

　　The decision by union leaders came after the strike began losing strength last week, when many drivers returned to work amid stern government warnings of reprisals. The truckers' union ordered members to return to work as soon as possible, according the union's Internet Web Site. Thousands of truck drivers had stopped work on August 21 to demand higher transportation fees.

　　Guatemala plans to hold tournaments testing players' skills at "the ball game" in each of its 22 provinces: The game is a contest that was often a struggle of life and death for the ancient Maya. As part of the country's independence day celebrations on September 15, each province will hold a tournament re-creating the game, which was played on a court with sloping parallel walls inset with three round disks known as markers, and a single stone ring placed at a right angle to the ground.

　　A 14-year-old boy has been charged in a Singapore court for pretending to be the nation's education minister in an e-mail to his principal, a newspaper reported yesterday. The boy allegedly sent his principal an e-mail demanding the expulsion of two fellow students and signed it with the name of former Education Minister Teo Chee Hean, the Straits Times newspaper said. Teo is now Singapore's defense minister. The paper said the boy was charged in court on Thursday under the Computer Misuse Act and is now out on bail of 6,000 Singapore dollars (US,428).

　　Indonesian government troops shot and killed 12 suspected rebels and arrested eight others in the escalating war in Aceh province, the army said yesterday. Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Yani Basuki said the fighting took place in the jungle around the oil- and gas-rich town of Lhokseumawe, where US energy giant ExxonMobil Corporation operates a natural-gas field. Basuki said three of the rebels - including an 18-year-old woman - were shot to death while fleeing from a military detention center on Thursday.

　　The united States yesterday froze the financial assets of 10 people alleged to be key members of the al-Qaida-linked Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, US Treasury Secretary John Snow said. Among those named is Imam Samudra, the alleged mastermind of the October 12, 2002, nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia, which killed 202 people.

　　Malaysia's minister for women's affairs has urged the national police force to have at least one woman officer in every station to deal with rape or sex-abuse victims. Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, minister for women and family development, said most victims of sex crimes were more comfortable relating the details to a female officer.

　　Two men posing as technicians stole computers that may have contained confidential files and top secret information from Australia's largest international airport, it was reported yesterday. Australian Federal Police confirmed they were investigating the theft of computer equipment from the customs processing and intelligence center at Sydney Airport, but would give no other details.

　　British airways is considering fitting its aircraft with anti-missile systems and has begun talks with manufacturers Boeing and Airbus about adapting the technology to commercial planes, the airline said yesterday. "We're currently talking to airline manufacturers to understand the feasibility of deploying anti-missile systems on civilian aircraft," a spokesman for BA said.